An article published in today’s edition of the Financial Times (UK) highlights growing concerns among Zambia’s opposition of the increasing repression of rights by the Patriotic Front (PF) government of President Michael Sata.
According to Andrew England, the foreign correspondent recently in Lusaka, “the gleam of the victory is fast wearing off as Mr Sata faces mounting accusations from opposition politicians, church leaders and civil society groups that his autocratic tendencies threaten to roll back Zambia’s democratic gains.”
The FT article quotes several public figures commenting on the current state of rights.
“We are seeing a regression of democratic practices – there’s so much tolerance of undemocratic practices,” said Neo Simutanyi to the FT.
“He wants to destroy the opposition,” says Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the United Party for National Development, who has been arrested five times since President Sata came into power. “There’s still an abrogation of human rights and civil liberties and we still have a situation where democracy is threatened.”
The article also addressed the petition presented by the opposition before the Commonwealth, who in response sent in a team to investigate the abuses of rights.
According to the FT, the Commonwealth envisages a follow-up visit “in the near future”, said Richard Uku, a spokesman for the organisation’s secretariat. “There are indeed some deep tensions in Zambia which we think can best be addressed by political dialogue between the government and main opposition parties,” Mr Uku said.
The FT article also interviews veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga, who served every post-independence government as a diplomat and minister until he retired in 2011.
“The opposition [has] never been under so much pressure [since the reintroduction of multi-party politics in 1991],” he says. “There’s that element of fear creeping into society, something only attained during the one-party state.”
The post British Press Highlights PF Repression appeared first on Zambia Reports.